Decorator fitted the wrong coving - what should I do?

[dcdec]

Since when was 20% of £250, sixty two pounds? If the extra £12 is for the box of coving thats cheap coving. I'm with Joe, i though £250 was expensive but a total of £312 is very expensive.

The firm do sound slack, good advice to contact trading standards but i really do think you need to have a face to face with the guy/firm and you sound like a good customer and a nice lady thats made a small mistake in not reading the quote properly, if the guy has any sense he'd make you a good offer of a compromise in the hope of getting more work, however at those prices i'd expect his work to be absolute top draw and have a finer eye for detail in the paperwork.

 

[Julia30]

I replied with this today. My boss (who is VERY scary!) wrote it for me:

"Dear Mr xxxx,

In response to your email below and attached invoice, we have sought further advice on this matter and regrettably do not feel that the job has been satisfactorily completed to warrant the process of any payment at this stage. We are impressed with the quality of the workmanship but cannot accept coving that is a different size to the one requested.

As discussed last week, your services were employed to erect coving in the dining room of our property to match that within the adjoining living room (this being 100mm coving). This was discussed at the time of your initial visit (and subsequent inspection of current coving) and detailed within the confirmation email sent to you before work commenced. You have, however, erected 127mm coving, which is not what had been discussed, agreed or requested. Your sited reasons for this error being that 100mm coving is unavailable – this is incorrect information as this product is readily available at most DIY superstores and that: 100mm was never requested – is also incorrect as I have written confirmation that this was required.

In view of the fact that we are dissatisfied with result (having 2 different sized covings in adjoining rooms) we would be grateful if you could please rectify your error as soon as possible, replacing the 127mm coving with the requested 100mm and repairing any potential damage (the propensity for which would have been substantially reduced had the error been rectified when it was identified). Upon satisfactory completion of the replace and repair we will happily process your payment in an expeditious manner.

We are happy to cover the cost of the additional materials and will return the unopened box of 127mm coving.

I look forward to hearing from you on this matter.

Regards"

 

[HERTS P&D]

Good letter, can't wait for their reply.

Andy

 

[sparkwright]

Excellent letter. Perhaps sending it recorded delivery may show you mean business.

 

[cajar]

Good letter. Yet all it says is, how dare you ask for payment, you haven't supplied what I asked for.

Sad that you've got to be tough, but good for you for doing so.

 

[gregers]

whats the betting the decs will call it a day and tell the op BYE BYE.

 

[Julia30]

whats the betting the decs will call it a day and tell the op BYE BYE.

I hope so - I know it's the right thing to ask for, but I'm not looking forward to seeing them in my house again. If they were as nice as they were pretending to be, they'd have fixed the problem when I asked them to (at the time) instead of having a go.

 

[Bosswhite]

whats the betting the decs will call it a day and tell the op BYE BYE.

I hope so - I know it's the right thing to ask for, but I'm not looking forward to seeing them in my house again. If they were as nice as they were pretending to be, they'd have fixed the problem when I asked them to (at the time) instead of having a go.

One Question.
Why did you allow them to complete the job ????

 

[Julia30]

By the time I noticed, they'd finished - they only had about half a foot left to put on, and they refused to stop or fix it.

 

[Julia30]

OMG - just had a screaming argument with the decorator over the phone at work. Would never have picked up if I'd known it was him. He shouted and said he felt deceived and that he cannot believe I'm going down this route and that we must've never had any intention of paying him. He didn't deny the coving was wrong - only the solution. I'm completely shaken up. My colleagues heard the whole thing and said I should've just hung up on him. He said he's going to go away and try to digest what's happened, and get back to me (so I can look forward to that).

 

[Julia30]

I told him I just wanted the correct coving in the correct room and I didn't mind how we acheived that. I'm not refusing to pay, I'm just not paying for something that's incorrect, and I want to compromise in order to get what I ordered.

 

[Julia30]

Hi xxx,

Just to confirm what we discussed earlier -

I understand this to be an honest mistake/misunderstanding and we are not refusing to pay you (at all). I apologise if the tone of my email seemed a little abrupt. We are just hoping to agree a compromise in order to obtain the correct-sized coving in the dining room. We are happy to cover any additional expenses of yours. Please let me know the best way forward for us to acheive this.

Many thanks

 

[Sam777]

Your correspondence was not abrupt so don't say it was. Re-iterate what was stated in previous correspondence and do not sway from this. Do not give any grounds for further confusion - keep stating what you have put down in writing so far.

 

[Lower]

Hi xxx,

Just to confirm what we discussed earlier -

I understand this to be an honest mistake/misunderstanding and we are not refusing to pay you (at all). I apologise if the tone of my email seemed a little abrupt. We are just hoping to agree a compromise in order to obtain the correct-sized coving in the dining room. We are happy to cover any additional expenses of yours. Please let me know the best way forward for us to acheive this.

Many thanks

Why are you happy to cover any additional expenses? This is the decorators error, not yours.

I would be happy to pay the originally agreed price when the work is completed correctly and nothing more.

If you want to compromise, offer to pay the 'COST' of the replacement coving and adhesive.

It is also sharp practice for the decorator to charge you for the unused coving. If he bought too much that's his problem, not yours.

PS don't let him bully you. Stay calm and factual. Don't get emotional.

 

[Julia30]

Sorry, I know you're 100% right, but it's a different story when there's two big blokes in your house (or one bawling down the phone at you at work, with no warning). I'm 5 feet tall and I'm pretty timid - I'm also living a 3 hour drive from my friends and family, so I don't really have a support network that could help.

I'm really freaked out and upset about this now, and I have to weigh the level of stress/anxiety against the money involved. I'm not going to cling to "the principle of it" too much. I just want nice matching coving and no more nastiness. It'd be worth an extra £100 or so to get that. I'd also accept if he just gave me a discount on the price as an apology. I'd still have to get somebody else in to fix it (I'd up paying about £600 for Gyproc coving - which is about 2 weeks wages for me!), but at least I'd be rid of them.

I'm not paying for it if he leaves it as it is, and I'm not paying double for him to fix it, but other than that I'm happy to compromise (even if it's not my fault) just because it was an honest mistake and I don't want any more trouble.

I guess worst-case scenario is him demanding payment and refusing to fix it, which would mean I have to go to 'Buy With Confidence' and I'll almost certainly get a brick through my window.

I've written a detailed email to Citizens Advice, so I'll see what they come back with too.